C205: Bounty Hunting and Fate Changing

C205: Bounty Hunting and Fate Changing

Alt Title teaser: Tyranid Hive Fleet. 

Date published: 4/3/2025.

First part of the chapter is more of an isolated situation while the second half has stranger implications. Enjoy

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(General pov)

Walking through the underhive sanctuary of Martyrs End are two mid teen looking individuals and a cybernetically enhanced dog looking creature, a boy and a girl and their dog.

The boy is wearing fine casual clothing, at least for the current situation, primarily a black blue trench coat that hides an under armpit holstered stubgun, the IronFist, while at the waist is a collection of small daggers that have been lined with explosive tips. 

The girl on the other hand wears a silver based set of armor that is quite lean in various parts as it's primary focus is to lightly protect her whole body while certain sparts are slightly thicker to protect her head and heart along with arms and legs. A thin sword or rapier lays on her left side hip while a sawn off shotgun lies on the right hip. A cloak covers the girls body as well as the two weapons hidden underneath it. On her back are two guns, one is Doghammer, a combat shotgun and the other is more of a heavy weaponry, a BurningSun plasma gun. 

As for the dog, the biologically correct term is a mastiff, one who has had small parts of it's teeth and jaw augmented along with one of it's legs, but not due to a need for a stronger dog. This mastiff had been picked up as an abandoned puppy which had been abused by a random underhive gang member who under it's twisted mind had chosen to abuse the puppy. The girl had swiftly neutered the man before feeding him his own micro wee-wee… Which he choked to death on. Though the slit throat might have also had something to do with it. 

The puppy had been too injured and exhausted, as well as untrained to follow the girl on her missions, and thus it had been left with the boy beside her who had been busy negotiating with various people and forces for work and a stable place to live these past few months. 

The mastiff received the love it needed as well as the medical care to fix up it's broken jaw, new teeth to replace the bad and broken ones as well as a new leg while the others are partially defended with simple armor.

Walking past a gun priest and a Rogue Doc clinic, and into the bar area of this shanty looking 'town'. It's hard to call it a town as the whole enclosed underground space is shorter than a three story building and the only reason it's width is larger than 6k square meters (6.4k square feet) is due to one special shopkeeper, an artificer by the name of Gamma Thane-67, a bit further away from the central bar of this sanctuary as well as the arena further away that is largely bigger than the whole sanctuary hole Martyrs End is. 

"Go on ahead and choose your next job, i found an old friend of mine" The boy tells the girl and she nods in return with the dog following her. As he moves towards one of the far seats at the bar area where a similarly sharp dressed man is seated as he reviews documents. He hides them away when he notices the boy approaching. 

"Jerico, good to see you again. Anything tasty arrived recently? Or still bugged about all the inquisitors hanging around topside making trouble for your noble friends?"

"Is there something you need Mr. Gram? I assume a man such as yourself has more important things to do than simply galavant about, freeloading off others?" The man, Kal Jericho, wears a deep green and black trench coat with a brown belt that holds a variety of pockets. He wields a simple looking saber as well a pistol of his own hidden inside his coat. His hair is a grayish white due to his age but he braids it into two locks that hang off the side of his face while the rest is tied into another braid at the back.

"Ah, you wound me sir, im simply gouging for information for any juicy jobs. Afterall, I've heard a guilder has been killed and that there is a bounty out now for the Silver Talon. I was just hoping that you would be willing to act as a mediator between me and mine. Of course we would be willing to pay the service fee for the job.

"20%" 

"..."

"10%"

"..."

"20%" Affirms Kal Jericho but the child across from him scoffs as he speaks,

"The job is an easy million, it is far too much for a simple introduction and job appointment to give away 20% like that. 15%" Axel Gram gives his own new offer which is some middle ground between the two.

Honestly, Kal Jericho can't stand the child across from him. Having appeared but a few months ago, many people were cautious of this unknown element as many believed it was a spy from opposing gangs and whatnot but when a small time merchant helped them out and gained a bunch of money as a tax from the blond haired girl training in bounty hunting and doing official jobs not long after, many attitudes shifted.

The girl acted as a bounty hunter, quickly gaining an impressive local record of 100% completion rate at unbelievable speeds while the man opposite Jericho, he is something else. Forging small bonds with the Goliaths and a few other groups, he had net personal contracts for the girl and stealing them from all other bounty hunters. 

This net them some negativity and some issues sizable bounties for them both but while the girl had killed the other hunters with some trouble, even gaining a local title of 'Silver Swordswoman'. Known for occasionally discaring her guns for the ornamental sword at her side to slice and dice her enemies. 

The blue haired boy had the opposite style. What most don't know is that the boy also took on some missions but his were all assassination style missions. Throughout his little mysterious career, he gained the nickname of 'Blue Mark' or 'Blue Cross', a link to the boy's style of placing a noticeable shiny blue cross marker on his target and they all suddenly died of a broken neck.

 One small time Escher gang leader had gotten the mark and surrounded himself with his henchmen, but even when many eyes were on him, the gang members were helpless as their boss had been mysteriously lifted into the air and his neck snapped. Many believed that it was stealth tech but when firing around the now dead boss, they struck nothing. Only thing left behind was a laser-riddled corpse before all members ran for their lives.

Kal Jericho had only a few rare interactions with the toy as they haggle over sharing beer while other times he bought information from him but as the legend of the blue mark grew, the more distance Kal took from the boy to not get implicated. Which is why he now has a headache from the child attempting to but his friend into a job that had already been officiated by the guild. He knew what the name of the target is, the Silver Talon as well as who the infamous silver talon is. A former noble lady whose noble house had been found guilty of black market and illegal businesses. The woman had been used as a scapegoat and he, kal Jericho holds the single piece of heretical technology that could prove her innocence. 

He knows that he has to divert the attention as well as kill off the Silver Talon to resolve everything. He already has a target in mind. 'But wait…I can offload the artifact to save one of the other hunters while the silver swordswoman kills off the Talon. Then just have the rescued bounty hunter piss off a few of the larger gangs and set up a bounty for them as well. Then the hunter would receive all the blame for dealing in heretical artifacts. I could try to also get some inquisitors down here by giving a tip about the target they are following ... .Wait an Emperor damned minute, blue hair, short, a blond haired woman with a needle sword'. 

(back to Axels POV)

After making his final offer, he watches Kal Jericho's facial expression as he goes through his scheming motions to reach the most ideal peak, likely something to do with Ais killing the Silver Talon and then having inquisitors take down whoever he implants the bionic implant into. 

Axel notices that Kal's face grows a bit pale and his eyes jump between Axel and Ais who has her back turned to them both. His head lowers as he simply states, "10% is fine, ill…go get started" he can't seem to sit still as he rushes off in a panic, leaving his bar bill behind which Axel has to pay off whilst getting a little something for himself. "Wildsnake" he orders and gets a fairly disgusting shot of…something. Though its taste could be much better, the feeling of success is evident on his face as he calls Ais back to rest and prepare for her next job. 

"I'm heading out a bit far for what i wanted to do next, need to set some things up, be careful of inquisitors while im gone and have fun. Here two tokens, if you get your hands on the alien tech then snap the blue one and my clone will help integrate it into your body along with upgrading it to it's highest level. That should spread out your overall abilities"

"How so?"

"Short range teleportation, heat-seeking fireballs, slow motion, a speed boost for when you're using your sword, aimbot. You know, the typical shooter game protagonist kit" He explains the few he remembers from the game and the adieu but not before explaining what the second token was. 

Then after finding a solitary spot, he teleported to the surface and then began his space trip to his next destination. Granted that he has to do some time travel shenanigans since the two people he wants to meet are on opposite spectrums of the timeline, he chooses to head forward in time since he likely would create another new timeline when he travels backwards so he travels forward for now. Though it's sometimes hard to tell if he is traveling backwards or forward due to improper records kept as well as warp influence.

Traveling to the eastern fringes, he finds his destination and the timeline he is looking for. Locking himself in a bubble, he coasts through time while things occur like normal outside. As for Ais, he is not worried about her as he had implanted a long term psychic barrier protector on her as well as seeds of life energy from Blythe. Not to mention that his intrusion into this universe as well as his link to Ais via her divinity. Everything about them is considered singularities or anomalies of this universe that it wishes to purge. So while certain monsters are more aggressive towards them as they are attracted to them, that also ensures that certain things like his little time traveling episodes won't separate them.

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(unknown alt pov-roughly 70 years prior to the battle of Cadia)

Bang bang bang. Gunshots ring out as a blob of acid lands next to the person who just fired. The man in a Astra Militarum styled officer coat, ducks under some cover as he throws some las (laser) grenades at the incoming Tyranid swarm.

(It has to be noted that Tyranids are like more ferocious versions of Xenomorphs with psychic links that make up hiveminds. They are the primary enemies in 40k Deathwing and the newer Space marines 2)

"Jurgen, how many mags do you have left?"The man, the myth, the legend, Ciaphas Cain asks his second in command, an old gruff Valhallan guardsmen who has stuck besides the 'middle aged' officer. 

"About 4 bolter clips and 7 lasgun mags but we will run out unless the Tau entourage choose to share with us some of their weapons." 

"Your right Jurgen, alright let's go 'negotiate'." The Cain states but as he is about to walk into a next core event which would have led to him arguing with the Tau and turning the situation worse as a Tyranid Broodlord ambushes them.

(in simple terms: tau are furries with power armor. I know this grand information because one of my friends has a tau army…which regularly loses against my other friends bane blade, i'm a skelly boy with rave zombies design)

"My lord, we have witnessed a miracle" At the call, Ciaphas Cain's hand twitches as he suspiciously looks at the attention gathering soldiers who are dragging a strangely armored soldier over their shoulder.

"Sir, this civilian had taken it upon himself to bring ammunition for our cause. Unfortunately he had taken a grave wound and we lack the tools to heal him properly.We also have all these, courtesy of this courageous child." Cain recognizes his third in command Jenit Sulla, who opens a big bag that holds a collection of older models of grenades and many generations of ammunition but it works for them as even if dusty or old, the ammo still holds steady and viable for immediate usage. This is immediately distributed as Cain gets a better look and finds it actually is a teenage child who wears what looks like 700 year old tags likely from the time of the 12th black crusade. 

While the soldiers use the newfound set of ammo a life send as they fire back at the still oncoming swarm of tyranid warriors, gaunts, gargoyles and genestealer cultists. One of the soldiers who brought the unknown civilian is attempting to mend their wounds but the clearly visible tyranid claw stab wound makes for a hard process when there are proper soldiers who could use the medical tools. Cain's hand continues to suspiciously ache as he continues looking through the delivered bag and finds a strange purple green grenade which stops the ache and taking that as a hint, he primes it before throwing it out of the acid and artillery formed trench. 

While the grenade does explode into a flurry of lights akin to a flashbang, the real principle factor was the strange pulse of energy that somehow caused the tyranid swarm to stall in their movement, it's obvious they still want to rush forwards and tear everyone apart but they remain in place as the gun fire intensifies from the guardsmen. It's only a whole minute later that the tyranids begin to rush forward again. 

Cain understands the principle factor here as the grenades seem to disrupt the hive mind of the tyranids but how it works is unknown to him yet he quickly gathers the remaining 4 grenades he has onto himself and leads a valiant charge against the insect like forces as his chainsword roars to life, slaying tyranid soldier after soldier. 

Cain is required to use the second grenade to reclaim an abandoned vehicle which had a turret on it's back and more supplies. Cain has a dark look as he spots the ravaged and partially devoured corpse of his men who had been inside the vehicle when it failed to deliver the resources.

Jungen moves to kill a vaulting tyranid that hoped to slice of Cain's head while he was distracted but is momentarily unphased until Jenit Sulla shows him a device that pings off the various lost transports and how by following the trail to reclaim an outpost which would allow them to hold off the tyranids until reinforcements come from space side. 

While Cain outwardly agrees with the suggestion and moves his soldiers there to set up base but inwardly, he considers the outpost a deathtrap waiting to happen, especially since they would be effectively abandoning the soldiers still remaining in the trenches. 

Steeling himself and with the grenades in hand, he diverts his forces towards the central pathway and to the Tyranid hive fleet itself. Using the grenades, he creates openings where the beasts are dazed and unmoving and once he and his soldiers have bypassed them, their hive mind kicks in once again to force them to fight against the Tau which is the only 'known' force as the humans disappeared except for a last few who use the trucks and turrets to hold them off. 

During their journey towards the hive fleet, Cain and his group had encountered an entourage of Inquisitors led by Amberley Vail who joined all the soldiers in purging the tyranid filth, though they had plenty of questions, they held their tongues under the premise that they could reach the Genestealer Patriarch and repel the Tyranid forces.

After a tense half hour, they finally reach the core of the fleet and slay the patriarch. The operation had seemingly been simpler than they thought. The special grenade had disrupted the patriarchs connection to his hive and thus could not get reinforcements as it's immense psychic powers were rendered null by Jurgen who is a 'blank/null'. This was pointed out by the inquisitor Vail, as their firepower had assisted in taking down the patriarch. The hive mind collapsed and most tyranids began to feed on each other to determine supremacy but until some more of the broodlords were slayed, then there would be lesser hive companies still fighting them under the final command of the Patriarch which they did hear as it fell. 

Cain and his forces returned to the Trenches and after a brief staredown with the Tau, who chose to depart after finding out that it was the genestealer cult that had attempted to divide them both while the hive fleet itself arrived on this planet. 

Ciaphas Cain made his way back and found that the civilian child had been shifted to lie comfortably upright, his surprise is immeasurable when he detects that the child was still surprised and bleeding a lot less but still having a hole in their stomach.

"Congrats on your victory sir" the child says with a raspy and barely detectable voice but after getting no answer on how the child survived what would be a fatal injury.

"Can I get your autograph, Sire?" the child shakily takes out a piece of blank paper which is slightly bloodied, not sensing anything strange this time around, he does so, writing

'To a fellow survivor, Ciaphas Cain'.

But in the next moment he understands something is wrong. He briefly turns the paper over and finds that it's a physical bounty sheet for a child face person similar to the person before him.

The shock doesnt end there as he witnesses how the injury 'heals' rapidly and the expression of the child changes as he speaks in a more confident tone.

"Now, lord Commissar Cain, I have a deal for you. At the bottom of that bag is a piece of metal ingot that holds the same anti psyker capabilities as your 2nd in command. If you can get the ingot smelted down into a new set of chains for your chainsword would allow you to strike down chaos and psykers with greater ease as their warp connection would be cut by it."

With a curious expression, Cain does find a blue ingot that gives him a slightly similar feel as his attendant Jurgen but as he looks for more answers on what deal the 'child' has in mind. He finds both the child and his own chainsword missing from his hip. Yet he also finds that his body is not as lethargic as it was moments ago, as if his senses were dulled to not arouse suspicion. 

Cain vows to retrieve his sword from that unknown being who helped them in their time of need. 

As for the child who has discarded his illusionary equipment, sporting starry blue hair and casual shirts and jeans.

"Nice, got a signature and a memento of my valor" Axel says to himself as he waves the sheathed chainsword in one hand and the autograph which was printed on the back of his paper based bounty sheet."

"Off to my next co star"

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Alt Title: 40k Hired Gun, Time Travel ,Meeting Ciaphas Cain

Word count: 3455

Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. I'll try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.